Apparatus for molding and vulcanizing pneumatic tire covers and the like



y 1935- 'H. WILLSHAW ET'AL 2,000,430

APPARATUS FOR MOLDING AND VULCANIZING PNEUMATIC TIRE COVERS AND THE ITIIKE Filed Oct. 11, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet l I fih' i I was /2 2 5 7 21 l II:

7 5 W 72 77 /5 77 75 77 72 i .5 t

A M) i1 1 1 wuu wum ATTORNEYS y 1935- H. WILLSHAW ET AL 2,000,430

APPARATUS FOR MOLDING AND VULCANIZING PNEUMATIC TIRE COVERS AND LIKE Filed Oct. 11, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

I, Mm/a 7 77 12 1? H.

i 2 I /21 j .5 9 7a 12 1 7 7 y Z a 0 I w 2/ i /2 2/ i 1 1 i 4 A 1| I] I I 1 U7 I T W i '0 W =11 H, A. I I

I I I HI l IILIIIIU W N4 l uh 'ummm. fwmfm.

fj 'fy MZZsAaw;

ATTORNEYS y 1935- H. WILLSHAW El AL 2,000,430 APPARATUS FOR MOLDING AND VULCANIZING PNEUMATIC TIRE CO VERS AND THE LIKE Filed 001;. 11, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 llIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIIII/Ill [III/1111111110 100 Inn/11111111111 will/1111A 1 baeniord" flrry Wfiifiazu, flames Mrcross and ATTORNEYS Patented May 7, 1935 i I ED 4 This invention relates to apparatus for molding and vulcani'zing pneumatic tires'and the "like, and specifically to such apparatus utilizing the means known in the tire trade as a clip-ring,

APPARATUS FOR MOLDING AND menia ING PNEUMATIC TIRE covnns AND THE,

'LIKE Harry winsham'sutt n eo1asaa,snrrnomss ,Norcross and Frederick George Broadbent,"

- Erdingtom Birmingham, England, assignors to Dunlop Tire and Rubber Corporation, Bufialo, a

. N. Y., a corporation of New York In Great Britain September 12, 1933 fs-cl ims. (o1. 18-'-17) r 7 the bead anda'djacent surfaces of the tire, said her !8. V

parts being separate'fro'm the rest'oi' the mold, e. g. separate from the parts, which shape the side walls andtreadof the tire;

The said invention isparticularly applicable to apparatus of the press ftype wherein opening and closing is efi'ected by longitudinal movement of the mold parts but it mayalso beapplied to rin Sjfas shown m the-dra win'gs; i H V "rims it will be seen that the springs 13 provide volute springJsdisposedcentrally of the molds. ,j fl'he'large diameter end I4 of this spring is fixed to, the plateniface' as by screws indicated at l5 while the small diameter end 16, of said spring'is 5 by which term is meant the parts whichshape fixed by meansofascrewed member 11 to amemj i To this member :8 the clip-ring l9 is fixed said clip-ring comprising in this the preferred arrangement two main parts, i. e. a pair of mating themain supportbetween thec'lip-ring and the platens, the member I8 is in eife'ctan extension apparatus of the pot type'wherein opening'and of the clip-ring and may indeed be an integral closing involves a pivotal movementfof th'ejmold part thereof; I

' operation'is as'follows, assuming that cure i. e. molding and'vulcanizingof the, tires is complete? 'I'hehydraulic means is operated to open the press: the lower platen falls away; this initiates opening movementof all four springs until 20 ,nowiheld compressed; as thesprings open out they push the clipfrings out of the mold halvesand soautomatically strip both tire covers with the onevop ening movementoftheapparatus; i" 'I1I8f }Spl'i 1g$ carriedpy the top and bottom 25 platens,push"the"clip-rings out of the-extreme Y parts.

Various otherfeaturesand provisions of our in- 5 an tm hgfllmo d and t gs vention become apparent as the description proceeds.

' In order that our invention may be more easily understood and readily carried into effect the ci t d therewith,

same will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Thus we provide a simple but highly ingenious and efficient arrangement whereby the tires are Figs. 1 and 2 are cross-sectional elevations of stripped from the molds automatically;

the preferred form of our invention showing the In the larger sizes of tire usually molded in 35 ppa p and Closed p fi y. an autoclave-to which sizes the present inven- Figs. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional part elevations tion is particularly applicablestripping has hithshowing two alternative springing means; 7 erto involved much arduous labor and the use of As shown in these drawings the apparatus is o the press type and comprises four vertical pilvarious mechanical contrivances for the purpose of plucking the tire out of its-mold. Very con- 40 lars l, a fixed top platen 2 and a; bottom platen 3 siderable force is required to do this and unless movable hydraulically by the ram 4.

In the preferred arrangement two tires 5 and 6 are molded at once, four half-molds I, 8, 9 and I0 being used, one half I being fixed to the top platen, one half 10 to the bottom platen and one each, 8 and 9, to opposite faces of an intermediate the tire cover itself.

or center platen l l disposed between the top and bottom platens 2 and 3.

These mold halves and platens are associated with heating units, e. g. steam chests l2, and the arrangement in this respect may be according to our British Patent No. 404,110.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, associated with each platen there is one the operation is carried out with great skill and care itmay tend to damage the tire: bythe pres-- ent invention that possibility is obviated entirely and thus it will'be seen that the present inven- 5 tion has a direct bearing upon the qualityof 40 o parallel helical or the laminated blade type and tion for example associating with agiven clip-i, ring a single spring of the volute. typeinstead: of a plurality of parallel helical springs, said single spring conveniently. providing the main support between the clip-ring'andthe rest of the apparatus.

When tiresof a comparatively small rim diameter are being dealt with there arises a difliculty in disposing the springingmedium in the very confined space available 'and lthislproblemds' solved by the provisions of the present invention in the embodiment utilizing volute springs as exemplified in Figs. l and 2 of the drawings.

If desired the springs maybe soarrangedas to strength or size that certain ,faces of the tire are stripped first e.'g. the top spring of each pair may be stronger or have a longer. stroke than the respective lower springs so as to ensure that the top face of the tire is stripped first, this leaving the tire readily accessible on the lower half of the clip-ring.

The center or intermediateplaten H in'the open positionis supported on collars 2| on the pillars I of the press. This provision is made'specifically for'the purpose of supporting the center platen while the press isopen: it mayalso assist in stripping the lower tire but usually both tires have been strippedby the action of the springs before the middle platen comes to "rest.

It is not to be construed that "weare limited to the precise details set out above.

For example instead of using the volute. type of springs we may use otherjtypes such as the instead of using asingle spring actingon each clip-ring halfwemay'use a plurality of springs,

ring half.

Again we do not confine ourselves to the molding of two tires at once as we may adapt the apparatus for molding one tire or more than two; and we do notconfine ourselves toany particular disposition of the apparatus in relation to the .fior-for example the press type of apparatus may be disposed not vertically, but at a suitable obli'que-angleto the'floor; and we do not desire any'restriction to be read into the terms pot or press as our invention may also be applied to apparatus which it :may be difiicult definitely to assign to either type group.

Having now particularly described our said invention, we claim:-

1. Molding and vulcanizing apparatus comprising a pair of steam chests, a pair of mold halves,

one for each steam chest, and arranged in complementary positions, clip rings, one for each mold half,'and resilient means for mounting said clip .rings on said steam chests to separate said clip rings from their respective mold halves when said mold halves and steam chests are in separated positions.

silient mounting means is a'spring.

" V 3., Apparatus comprising a pair of steam chests,

a pair of mold halves, one for each steam chest, in complementary positions, clip rings, one for each mold half, and volute springs, one between each of said steam chests and clip rings to resiliently support said clip rings spaced from their respective mold half mounting means for mounting said clip rings on the respective steam chests to space said clip rings resiliently from their respective mold halves.

' i 5.. The apparatus of claim 4 in which said re- I g V g I 'silient means comprise volute springs- For example Fig. 3 illustrates an instance in which we use four helical springs 22, while Fig. 4 illustrates an instance in which we utilize one laminated blade type of spring 23, acting on each clip- HARRY WILLSHAW. THOMAS NORCROSS. FREDERICK GEORGE BROADBENT.

. 2 The apparatus of claim 1 inwhich said re- A 

